The Experiences of a Young Western Practitioner

My name is Dionne and I am 15 years old. I began to practise Falun Gong four months ago. I came into contact with Falun Gong through another practitioner by the name of Ruud who was visiting one of my old friends. I conversed with Ruud about Falun Dafa and it sounded good to me and I found it interesting, but I did not become a practitioner then. I’d like to share my experience about how I started practising Falun Dafa.

Ruud and I went to visit his brother Ralph for a few days at the end of December in 2005. Ralph has the words, "Falun Gong," in Chinese characters posted on a wall in his living room. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the banner. When I looked at it I gained a positive feeling and I somehow recognised the characters. Later that evening, Ruud and Ralph practised the Falun Gong exercises. I wanted to observe them and see what exactly they would do. When they started the exercises, I felt a terrible pain in my throat. I had to cough all the time but I didn’t want to, as I thought I would disturb them in their practice. When they finished their practice I thought I could finally cough, but the pain was already gone.

When I lay in bed I couldn’t sleep and I saw the founder of the practice, Master Li in front of me the entire time. I said to Ruud, "Ruud, I see this man from the book Zhuan Falun in front of me all the time". I tried to figure out what he wanted me to enlighten to, but for some reason Ruud already knew what I saw and what Master wanted me to enlighten to.

I said to Master that I accepted the help he offered and wanted to practise Falun Gong. At that moment, I saw the book Zhuan Falun opening by itself and I observed myself going through all the pages. My understanding of this was that Master was telling me to read the book Zhuan Falun.

That was clear enough for me to begin the practice since there is more to life than just being born and then dying. Now I practise the exercises frequently with Ruud and other practitioners. I try to attend as many Falun Dafa activities as possible and tell people about Falun Dafa.

Last week I had a dream which I’d like to tell you about. I saw an old man who controlled a lot of people and other beings and he also tried to kill me. I was chased by many people to my home. I then went to my room where Ruud was and I told him that I was being chased. At that time it became pitch dark outside and the sky was almost black. The curtains in front of the window were closed. Then Ruud and I saw a black creature flying outside of my window, bumping against it. He tried to enter to catch me without success. Ruud opened the window a little bit and I shouted, "No. Close it!" When we opened the curtain, it disappeared from the window. When Ruud closed the curtains again, he reappeared outside of the window, making all kinds of weird noises. Then it suddenly occurred to me that I should send forth righteous thoughts often. So I did that in my dream and I was actually in that position on my bed as well. With the first posture I said, "Eliminate everything that damages the Fa including the old forces, demons and what is flying outside of my window and whatever wants to come to my window." With the second posture, I said aloud the word, "Mie," with more concentrated righteous thoughts. Then it became very bright outside. My curtains flew open and the creature was gone. At that moment I woke up, and then I realised I needed to send forth righteous thoughts more often.

This is my experience that I wished to share with my fellow practitioners.